James 3:1-12
3:1 Not many of you should become
teachers, my brothers and sisters, for you know that we who teach will be judged
with greater strictness.
3:2 For all of us make many mistakes. Anyone who
makes no mistakes in speaking is perfect, able to keep the whole body in check
with a bridle.
3:3 If we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them
obey us, we guide their whole bodies.
3:4 Or look at ships: though they
are so large that it takes strong winds to drive them, yet they are guided by a
very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs.
3:5 So also the
tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great exploits. How great a forest is
set ablaze by a small fire!
3:6 And the tongue is a fire. The tongue is
placed among our members as a world of iniquity; it stains the whole body, sets
on fire the cycle of nature, and is itself set on fire by hell.
3:7 For
every species of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and
has been tamed by the human species,
3:8 but no one can tame the
tongue--a restless evil, full of deadly poison.
3:9 With it we bless the
Lord and Father, and with it we curse those who are made in the likeness of
God.
3:10 From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers and
sisters, this ought not to be so.
3:11 Does a spring pour forth from the
same opening both fresh and brackish water?
3:12 Can a fig tree, my
brothers and sisters, yield olives, or a grapevine figs? No more can salt water
yield fresh.
Mark 8:27-38
8:27 Jesus
went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi; and on the way
he asked his disciples, "Who do people say that I am?"
8:28 And they
answered him, "John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; and still others, one of
the prophets."
8:29 He asked them, "But who do you say that I am?" Peter
answered him, "You are the Messiah."
8:30 And he sternly ordered them not
to tell anyone about him.
8:31 Then he began to teach them that the Son
of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief
priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise
again.
8:32 He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and
began to rebuke him.
8:33 But turning and looking at his disciples, he
rebuked Peter and said, "Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not
on divine things but on human things."
8:34 He called the crowd with his
disciples, and said to them, "If any want to become my followers, let them deny
themselves and take up their cross and follow me.
8:35 For those who want
to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and
for the sake of the gospel, will save it.
8:36 For what will it profit
them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life?
8:37 Indeed, what
can they give in return for their life?
8:38 Those who are ashamed of me
and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man
will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy
angels."
